descending sun
by turtleheart19
Summary: what if bella and her mom never left forks? bella's best friend has always been jacob, but jake starts to change right around the time when the new cullen family moves into town. will she be with jake or the mysterious new edward cullen?


**descending sun**

Bella's pov

Ch. 1 Midnight Eyes

I breathed in and out slowly through my nose, my eyes closed, and a soft smile formed on my lips as I enjoyed the warm sunlight on my skin. I could feel the grass tickling my bare legs where I was lying in my backyard. Summer would be here soon and that thought made me smile even wider.

"What are you smiling about?" the husky voice came from far above me as its owner's shadow blocked out my sun.

"Jake!" I shouted in surprise. I jumped up and hugged him, almost hitting the top of my head against his chin. "When did you get here?" I asked him.

"Just in time to ruin your nap, it looks like. Couldn't let you sleep all day, lazy." He grinned at me and his white teeth flashed in contrast with his russet skin. "Now are you gonna answer my question or what?" He sat down on the blanket that I had spread out on the grass and pulled me down with him.

"I was thinking of what a nice day it is. No rain." I answered him, turning my attention skyward. He followed my gaze toward the amazingly cloudless blue sky.

"Yeah. Some kind of miracle huh?" Jacob remarked.

We looked at each other and grinned again. Jacob black and I had been the best of friends for as long as I could remember. My dad, Charlie, and his dad, Billy, had been friends since before I was even born, and when I was little he would take me over to the Black's house every weekend when he didn't work. Dad and Billy would watch sports or go fishing while I played with Jake and his two older sisters, Rachel and Rebekkah. But after their mother died a few years ago, the two sisters became more distant and eventually they both moved away. One had gotten married and moved to Hawaii, while the other went away to a college in Seattle and had not come back.

But Jake was still here, faithfully taking care of his father who was now in a wheelchair. Me, my dad, and my mom, Renee, had always been there for Jake's family, just as they had always been there for us.

As if my thoughts were a cue, my mom peeked her head out the back door and called out, "Kids! Dinner's ready!"

I turned back toward Jake and was surprised to find him already on his feet. Before I could protest, he grabbed both of my hands and pulled me up. Suddenly I was in a Jake bear-hug. His arms wrapped tightly around me and I found my face smushed against his hard chest. Jacob was getting to be so big lately. He seemed to grow taller every day. "Jake?" my cry was muffled against his white T-shirt.

He pulled me away from him about a foot, but his long arms were still holding on to me tightly. He looked his midnight-dark eyes deeply into my chocolate ones. "Yes Bella, honey?" he smiled a mischievous grin, and I rolled my eyes at him before returning my thoughtful gaze to his.

"What are they feeding you at the rez, huh? I mean, you've just grown a lot." I quickly added the last part when i noticed Jacob's eyebrow raise up in a curious expression.

Then his face turned concrete, deadly serious. " Well you see, Bella, that's just what happens when you aren't a midget." The wicked smile flashed back in an instant, breaking the intense tone in his voice.

I childishly stuck my tongue out at him and turned away, retreating back towards the house. His voice got louder as I walked away, "Of course you might grow up one day. . . maybe you'll even catch up to me, even." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

I turned around, one hand on my hip, and my other hand up with my finger waving in the air in a no-nonsense sort of way, and said, "Jacob Black, there is no way on this earth that I would ever need to catch up to you, because in case you have forgotten, I'm older than you." I said the last four words smugly as I put my had back down and smiled self-satisfyingly but playful at my best friend.

Jacob looked at me thoughtfully, almost serious again. "Yes, well, although we both agree that you are an old lady," (I stuck my tongue out at him again), "and I suppose that I am younger than you. However, there is only one thing that I would like to 'catch' up to in this situation."

I didn't miss the way he said the word "catch", or the wicked wink he gave me as he said it. suddenly, I knew what was going to happen and I turned to run away, but he caught me in his arms before I could even take one step. We both tumbled down to the soft grass and lay there side-by-side, cheerfully laughing.

But my carefree laughter stopped short when I realized two things at once. The first was the fact that sometime during the chase and tumble, Jacob's hand had found mine, and our fingers were twisted together, tightly bound. This wouldn't be so bad or unusual if it weren't for the second thing: I could feel Jacob's eyes burning a hole into the side of my head, and I turned ever so slightly to see the passionate look in them, our faces only inches apart. My breath caught in my throat. It seemed as if the world had stopped, but everything was changing around me. I could see Jacob's face in front of me. He was smiling the sweetest, most gentle smile that I had ever seen on him.

My heart hammered in my chest, but at the same time my mind reeled from the intimacy of the moment. _This isn't right_, I thought. How many moments just like this had gone by without me noticing to create that loving look in his eyes? Jake was my best friend, and I had never had the vaguest thought of anything more than friendship with him. To me, he was practically part of my family. As I stared into Jacob's endlessly deep eyes, one thought thoroughly buried itself into my mind: had I been leading Jacob on all these years?

I turned my head away from his. For a brief second I imagined the disappointment that was surely in his eyes before blocking it out of my internal vision. Instead I looked up at the cloudless blue sky.

I heard Jacob's frustrated sigh as he picked himself up off the ground. "Come on, Bells."

His voice had a hard edge to it. I looked up at his face hesitantly. Although his voice wasn't the same as before, his face wasn't the picture of mental anguish that I had envisioned. I allowed relief to wash through me and smiled up at my Jake once more before getting up and walking with him back to the house, silently ignoring the unbalanced sadness that had seeped into his midnight eyes.


End file.
